Australian forced to cancel 105 mile Cuba to Florida swim after jellyfish sting

Foreign Staff

Friday June 14 2013, 1.01am, The Times

McCardel dives off from the Hemingway Marina

ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Foreign Staff

Friday June 14 2013, 1.01am, The Times

The Australian endurance swimmer Chloe McCardel ended her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida after 11 hours in the water last she was stung by a jellyfish.

Her support team released a statement saying that McCardel stopped her effort to become first to swim across the Straits of Florida non-stop without a shark cage “due to a severe debilitating jellyfish sting”.

It said that she had been taken on to one of her support vessels and was sailing to Key West. She would need 24 hours to recuperate, it said.

It was the fifth failure involving three women swimmers who have tried to make the marathon swim since 2011. Jellyfish stings and strong currents have been the main impediments.